A basket is typically a basket made of straw or other fiber material and is typically constructed by hand with a frame. While most modern baskets are constructed from synthetic materials, sometimes animal or plant fibers, other materials including rope, wood, or wicker can also be used. Baskets are frequently used for transporting products, although they can also be used to display items, like figurines or paintings. Here are some common uses for baskets:
* Gifts: If you have a gift basket and want to market it to friends or family, one way to make sure your gift is both useful and attractive is to combine it with other baskets and promote the same or different baskets by placing them in sets. For example, if you have a basket of stuffed animals, you can easily stack them on top of each other in order to create an attractive display. Likewise, if you have a basket of gourmet cookies, you can stack these in a row or cascade the same type of cookie arrangement on top of another set of cookies. Basket orders execute multiple trades for you by placing the different securities in baskets, which can carry a variety of different securities.
* Commissions: When traders place orders for buying or selling baskets of securities, they typically use baskets that carry commissions, which reflect the percentage of profit that the trader earns on each transaction. Commissions can help traders decide whether to buy or sell a security. Some commissions, such as those offered by liquidation companies, are fixed and are not linked to the price of a security. Other commissions may be variable and may depend on the volume of a stock, the volatility of that stock, or other criteria. Regardless of the commission structure used by your broker, be sure to carefully consider the benefits and risks before placing a market order with a brokerage firm.
* Hedge Funds: Many hedge funds are sophisticated portfolios. They often place a greater emphasis on creating baskets of securities that complement their portfolio. In this way, the various securities in a hedge fund account do not compete for attention. By placing similar types of securities together in a basket, hedge fund traders reduce the possibility that investors in the fund will pick bad investments. They also create baskets that mirror the characteristics of other well performing funds.
* Native American Art: Investing in Native American art has long been seen as a wise choice for investors interested in cultural and historic items. In recent years, however, more investors have become aware of the artistic potentials of native artwork. More art baskets are being made available to native artist enthusiasts. These art baskets make great gifts for collectors and enthusiasts and make an excellent addition to any collection.
* Automated Stock Software: Using automated stock software is another useful strategy for institutional traders. This type of software allows multiple positions to be traded on the same day. Traders who use this technique, instead of going through the trouble of manually entering each position, are able to select multiple positions that they think will perform well. When the market decides that one position is performing poorly, it can quickly eliminate it from the basket order, leaving the remaining positions available.